---
description: Administration -> Paper Review -> Reviewers
---

# Create reviewers and assign topics

## Background

When external reviewers evaluate the papers, each reviewer is assigned the papers they are to review. In general, each paper is independently reviewed by several reviewers and the program committee can make the final decision on each paper based on these reviews.

## Add reviewers

In order for the external review of papers to take place, reviewers must first be set up in the system. There are two ways to do this: manually or by importing a list.

### Import vs. manual creation

**Manually creating reviewers** is usually only useful if most of the reviewers are already in the system (e.g. from the previous year or as authors).

If several new people have to be created or the topic assignment (see below) of the reviewers is very complex, then it is usually much more efficient to **import them as reviewers** directly.

{% hint style="success" %}
**Tip:** When importing reviewers, you have the option of directly importing their **topic assignment** as well. It may make sense to use the import function even if all persons already exist.

In this case, you first create a new person for each reviewer during the import and then merge the duplicate persons using the deduplication function. This way, you can directly import the topic assignment and save yourself the work of manually assigning the topics.
{% endhint %}

### Importing reviewers

Information on how to do import reviewers can be found in the chapter: [Importing personal data](https://manual.converia.de/en/attendees/manage-people-and-participants/import-people-into-converia/reviewer-import).

### Manually creating reviewers

<figure><img src="https://3664324957-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FFHhRMg6uphOg3wLL7zym%2Fuploads%2FkkvUNtZxoy1Tuqs7ijGa%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=97b4aa66-7637-4133-8404-52f82f233a82" alt=""><figcaption><p>Fig. 1: Creating a reviewer using existing persons or a new person</p></figcaption></figure>

When creating a new reviewer (1), you either select an existing person (A) or create a new person (B). Procedure:

* 1\) _Add reviewer_ -> Person browser opens
* **A) Use an existing person**&#x20;
  * Search or filter persons
  * Select person(s)
  * _**Apply Persons**_ as reviewers
* **B) Create new person**
  * _Add person_ -> person mask opens
  * Fill in personal data, use the _**Select (!)**_ option and _Save_ -> The new person is applied
  * If you have forgotten the _Select_ option, then you have to search for the newly created person again as in A), _select_ it and _apply_ it as a reviewer.

After successful creation, the new reviewer is displayed in the list and the message “Successfully added” is displayed.

## Matrix & assign topics

{% hint style="info" %}
_Topic assignment required?_

* If you later want the system to automatically assign the papers to the reviewers, then the reviewers need a topic assignment.
* If you want to distribute the papers to the reviewers manually, the reviewers do not necessarily need a topic assignment, but it can still be useful.
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://3664324957-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FFHhRMg6uphOg3wLL7zym%2Fuploads%2FZLSsSVTYLiI4wBq2DB8p%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=5f2525a4-3153-42b9-8f72-1b1870bc3aef" alt=""><figcaption><p>Fig. 2: Assign a topic to a reviewer by clicking in the cell</p></figcaption></figure>

* The topic assignment can be done either by clicking on the check mark in the corresponding cell of the reviewer matrix, or by clicking on the pen <img src="https://3664324957-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FFHhRMg6uphOg3wLL7zym%2Fuploads%2FvuwxVf7EaDD0AaZxfbj4%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=933b7bbf-d3a3-44df-a860-a4d1cd59c4cc" alt="" data-size="line"> -> reviewer mask -> tab Topics.
* Assigning a main topic does not result in the associated subtopics being assigned; instead, the corresponding subtopics must be assigned individually.
* The reviewer matrix shows in the header how many papers and how many reviewers there are in each topic area.
* The personal data of the linked person can be edited by clicking on the person symbol <img src="https://3664324957-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FFHhRMg6uphOg3wLL7zym%2Fuploads%2FC34Nhv0sEnFJDgx5Q4Ch%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=adc9e2d8-4823-42f5-9a58-8b4d345dbfe8" alt="" data-size="line"> at the beginning of the line. This is an efficient way to clean up the duplicates of all persons who are reviewers (e.g. before the automatic assignment of papers).
* Individual reviewers can be deleted from the list of reviewers by clicking on the cross <img src="https://manual.converia.de/~gitbook/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F4086967078-files.gitbook.io%2F%7E%2Ffiles%2Fv0%2Fb%2Fgitbook-x-prod.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fspaces%252FyzdXgmSBPNkQushdnuut%252Fuploads%252FUJXdzsY5B2k8gzNOC4FZ%252Fimage.png%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Dccf2b814-e691-42ec-8dc6-113b992e734a&#x26;width=38&#x26;dpr=4&#x26;quality=100&#x26;sign=8ed93557&#x26;sv=1" alt="" data-size="line">. However, this only removes the reviewer role of the person, not the person itselve. When deleting, all reviews that this reviewer has made will be deleted.

## Reviewers & manuscript review

{% hint style="info" %}
When using the manuscript review, the reviewer matrix has the same structure as in the abstract review (same reviewers, same topic assignment).

However, if necessary, there can be a different assignment of contributions and the review progress is monitored separately.
{% endhint %}
